* Chinese rate increase could pressure demand -analysts
* Lack of consensus on impact of rolling French strike
* Coming Up: U.S. API weekly oil stocks to Oct 15; 2030 GMT
(Adds fresh quotes, updates prices)
By Zaida Espana and Isabel Coles
LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Oil fell on Tuesday, retracing
part of the previous session's gains, as the dollar climbed
after China's central bank raised interest rates for the first
time since 2007 to rein in its booming economy.
U.S. crude for November <CLc1> fell $1.29 to $81.79 a barrel
by 1217 GMT while ICE Brent for December <LCOc1> gave up $1.20
to $83.17 a barrel.
"(The Chinese rate move) could imply a little bit of softer
growth in commodities demand. Today is the main impact for
commodity markets," said UniCredit's Jochen Hitzfeld.
The U.S. dollar rose, lifted by the Chinese rate move and
earlier comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner that
the United States would not engage in competitive currency
devaluation. []
"In the view of Chinese authorities economic activity is too
strong and they need to tighten further. They are not willing to
let the exchange rate rise considerably and have to go with the
rates," Carsten Fritsch from Commerzbank said.
Commodity analyst Edward Meir from brokerage MF Global said
the move was unlikely to have any significant short-term impact
on demand.
"It's just a first move, and likely will not have much of an
impact on underlying demand. If the authorities have to
successively raise rates, then that could be more serious," he
said.
EYE ON FRENCH STRIKES
The market was also seeking direction from a 23-day-long
strike at France's oil hub of Fos-Lavera which, together with
refinery protests, forced the country to tap emergency fuel
reserves this week. []
"Major supply disruptions historically mean higher prices --
even for crude oil when the disruption is caused by refinery
problems," Philip Wiper, an analyst at oil brokerage PVM, said.
"The French refinery strike is moving towards having a major
impact, and as we saw yesterday may just be beginning to affect
outright prices."
There was no consensus among analysts about the extent of
the impact from the French strike on feedstock crude prices.
According to Fritsch, prices could be weighed down by the
crude oversupply building up outside the port, a sentiment
echoed by Christopher Bellew, oil broker at Bache Commodities,
who also expects the French strikes will have a bearish impact
on crude prices.
"The impact of these strikes if anything is going to be
somewhat bearish because people are not going to be able to burn
oil," he said.
U.S. crude stockpiles probably rose by 1.6 million barrels
last week, a Reuters survey showed, but oil product supplies
were seen tightening due to maintenance at American refineries
and at strike-idled plants in France, according to the Reuters
poll ahead of the American Petroleum Institute's (API) weekly
supply statistics on Tuesday at 2030 GMT.
That will be followed by government statistics from the
Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday. []
(Additional reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Editing by Jane
Baird and Sue Thomas)
